Admissions

Drama

Living in Oxford

There is a wide range of venues and spaces, from the Burton Taylor Studio, which mounts two student productions every week, to the Oxford Playhouse, which hosts two large-scale student productions a term. In addition to these there are numerous college theatres, and gardens which provide wonderful settings for outdoor shows in the summer term. On stage, backstage or in the audience, you can take in a great variety of traditional, contemporary and experimental productions. There are University-wide bodies and many more societies and funding bodies at college level.

There is a full-time University Drama Officer who helps students to plan, programme and publicise their productions. The Drama Officer also organises workshops and talks, which are free and open to all, and can advise those planning a career in theatre or film on graduation. For more information please see Oxford University Drama or email drama.officer@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Oxford University Dramatic Society

Drama OUDS is an umbrella society, representing a huge body of students interested in making theatre. It is a significant funding body, and a key event organiser. OUDS mounts an international tour of a Shakespeare production directed, performed and produced by students, in association with Thelma Holt. The production often tours Japan. OUDS also hosts a national tour every summer, culminating in a run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Tabs Are For Flying

TAFF is the society for those who work on the technical side of theatre and theatre design, including stage and production management, lighting, sound, props, and costume and set design. As a society, it provides support, advice and training for students who are interested in technical theatre. It also seeks to increase the understanding of technical theatre in the broader University theatre community. Throughout the year it runs workshops on a variety of aspects of technical theatre.

Oxford Imps

Drama The Oxford Imps form the hub of improvised comedy in Oxford, performing Whose Line Is It Anyway-style shows every Monday night, and at the Edinburgh Fringe for a month each summer. They are a training, as well as a performance company, offering a boot camp and workshops for a new generation of comedians and actors. Every year they hold auditions (no experience required!), but also need technicians, production assistants, improvising keyboard players and a keen audience to provide suggestions for the show. The Imps are a regular fixture at college balls and charity events, and put their skills to use in a wide variety of other formats, from full-length improvised musicals and radio plays to short films.

Oxford Revue

Drama The Oxford Revue was the brainchild of Michael Palin, who was the first to combine the idea of ‘sketch comedy’ with ‘a paying audience’ in the early 1950s. Since then the Oxford Revue has never looked back, spawning some of Britain’s best loved writers and comedians, from Alan Bennett and Rowan Atkinson, to Armando Iannucci and Sally Phillips, to Stewart Lee and Katy Brand.

Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor

Each year a major theatrical figure is appointed to give a series of lectures and workshops at St Catherine’s College. The 2013 Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre is Sir Michael Boyd. Previous professors include Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Kevin Spacey and Meera Syal.